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CVE-2026-126641

MEDIUMCVSS 6.5/10

Last modified

CVE-2026-126641 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 6.5/10 on the CVSS scale. A host key verification flaw was found in ansible-pylibssh and in the ansible.netcommon libssh connection plugin. When trust-on-first-use is enabled (host_key_auto_add on the libssh connection plugin, or AutoAddPolicy in ansible-pylibssh), a host that is already present in known_hosts but now presents a different key is accepted without warning.

Description

A host key verification flaw was found in ansible-pylibssh and in the ansible.netcommon libssh connection plugin. When trust-on-first-use is enabled (host_key_auto_add on the libssh connection plugin, or AutoAddPolicy in ansible-pylibssh), a host that is already present in known_hosts but now presents a different key is accepted without warning. The pylibssh Session.verify_knownhost() method passes the SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS_CHANGED and SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS_OTHER states to the same missing_host_key() policy hook used for unknown hosts, and the bundled AutoAddPolicy/RejectPolicy classes (as well as ansible.netcommon's MyAddPolicy, which is modeled on paramiko's AutoAddPolicy) therefore add the changed key and continue the connection rather than aborting as paramiko's BadHostKeyException path would. As a result the controller authenticates to the substitute host, runs the play there, and appends the new key to known_hosts, which can disclose connection credentials to an attacker performing a machine-in-the-middle attack. Default configurations (host_key_checking enabled, host_key_auto_add unset) are not affected; non-interactive runs fail closed.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
6.5/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

Source: CNA advisory (CVE.org). NVD analysis pending.

VendorProductVersions
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2All versions

References

Timeline

Published
Last Modified
Status
Awaiting Analysis

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-126641?
A host key verification flaw was found in ansible-pylibssh and in the ansible.netcommon libssh connection plugin. When trust-on-first-use is enabled (host_key_auto_add on the libssh connection plugin, or AutoAddPolicy in ansible-pylibssh), a host that is already present in known_hosts but now presents a different key is accepted without warning. The pylibssh Session.verify_knownhost() method passes the SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS_CHANGED and SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS_OTHER states to the same missing_host_key() policy hook used for unknown hosts, and the bundled AutoAddPolicy/RejectPolicy classes (as well as ansible.netcommon's MyAddPolicy, which is modeled on paramiko's AutoAddPolicy) therefore add the changed key and continue the connection rather than aborting as paramiko's BadHostKeyException path would. As a result the controller authenticates to the substitute host, runs the play there, and appends the new key to known_hosts, which can disclose connection credentials to an attacker performing a machine-in-the-middle attack. Default configurations (host_key_checking enabled, host_key_auto_add unset) are not affected; non-interactive runs fail closed.
How severe is CVE-2026-126641?
CVE-2026-126641 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10 (MEDIUM severity).
How do I fix CVE-2026-126641?
Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

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Source: NVD / NIST